NPS Official Assisted Artist with Avoiding Tax Garnishment

We investigated an allegation that an official at the Southern Campaign Parks Group (SOCA), National Park Service (NPS), an artist, and a park friends group conspired to set up the purchase of one of the artist’s paintings via a 2015 transaction with the friends group so that the artist could avoid a Federal tax garnishment. We also investigated the timing of the art purchase that seemed to coincide with a funding increase in the cooperative agreement between the friends group and Kings Mountain National Military Park (KIMO), a park within SOCA. We found that the SOCA official directed the NPS’ acquisition of a $39,000 painting by the artist in 2015 and structured the purchase using the friends’ group as a broker for the sale even though the friends’ group did not own the painting. This structure allowed the artist, the painting’s true owner, to avoid a Federal tax garnishment that would have been imposed on him had he sold the painting directly to the NPS. The SOCA official admitted to coordinating the transaction with both the artist and the friends group, which included dictating that the friends group receive a $4,000 fee for its role in the transaction. In addition, we found that NPS contracting officials and KIMO staff did not follow Federal regulations and U.S. Department of the Interior procurement policies during the acquisition of the painting; specifically, the NPS and KIMO should have purchased the painting through a competitive bidding process rather than using sole source procedures. We also found that KIMO increased the annual funding to the friends group’s cooperative agreement by $25,000 around the same time the SOCA official began coordinating the purchase of the painting, but we found no direct connection between the friends group’s role in acquiring the painting and the increase in funding. We did find, however, that KIMO staff improperly extended the period of performance of the cooperative agreement without authorization from contracting officials. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina declined prosecution. We provided this report to the NPS Deputy Director Exercising the Authority of Director.